welcome to disney, my name is BOB

jeff and i were ecstatic to be able to drive all the way to florida (i know, we're nuts, right?) mostly because we could then bring our jogging stroller with us. we have a BOB double jogger, the sport utility version, the king of all strollers. its WAY too big to bring on the airplane, so we were slightly thankful that flights were outrageously expensive, therefore making our decision to drive even easier.
we love road trips. in israel, we went to ein gedi and camped at the dead sea. we went to szfat, vered hagalil, and a kibbutz somewhere up north all in jeff's little beat up 1986 peugeot hatchback. our honeymoon was an awesome 2 week road trip through thousand islands, montreal, quebec, vermont, and the adirondacks. we road tripped to rhode island for vanessa's wedding, stopping at all the fun scenic places along the way. so, what better way to explore than to drive down to florida?
we made the most of our journey, stopping in new places along the way. charleston, WV was kind of a wash because tali was really sick the night we were there, and instead of exploring, we had to stay in doing breathing treatments and trying to prevent an out of town emergency room visit (which we were thankfully able to do).
savannah, GA was incredible. the cutest little city ever. we stayed at the hyatt, right on the river, and could watch boats, barges, sailboats, and sailors directly out of our window. the restaurants on river st were cool, eating crab out on the deck watching the boats go by. and historic savannah is adorable with great buildings all built around these little squares with fountains galore. for all of this, we were thankful for our BOB. a comfy ride for the kids. an easy accessory for our lives.
then we arrived at disney. we had heard from many people, many online reviews, many disney "experts" (or fanatics is more like it), that we should NOT stay at animal kingdom because it is SO FAR AWAY and you have to TAKE A BUS to get to the other parks. but what other hotel could you look out your window and watch giraffes and zebras frolick on the savannah??? so, we ignored the advice we received and booked the BEST place to stay at disney (for us, at least). OR----it would have been the BEST place to stay had it not been for "BOB".
the bus ride to the parks was nothing. so what that we had to jump on a bus. our kids LOVE buses and trucks and trains. no big deal. BUT, the big deal was that the strollers had to be folded up, placed out of the way of the aisle, and the kids could not stay in the stroller on the bus. i understand just as much as anyone the safety concerns, but frustrating it was. each time we needed to get on the bus it was an ordeal. we couldnt sit together because the bus was always filled to the brim with others on their own magical vacation and jeff had to be able to hold onto the mega-stroller out of the way of other people. it was hard. it was not fun. having the BOB at the parks themselves made the trip to and from more worth it, but it still was a hassle having to get there and get back.
so, my advice for disney. bring a couple small umbrella strollers that are easy to fold, easy to carry, but still do the trick. it wont be as comfy for the kids, but it will save some other trouble.
even more so than bringing small strollers is that even though it is far from the parks and you *god forbid* have to take a bus to get there, STAY AT ANIMAL KINGDOM LODGE! our kids got drum lessons from some african men and got taught individually about pelicans and flamingos and how they eat from some african women. they got to see the giraffes and zebras and african bulls and birds and other types of animals just outside our window.